Abrasively immobilised multiwalled carbon nanotube agglomerates: A novel electrode material approach for the analytical sensing of pH

Gregory G. Wildgoose, Henry C. Leventis, Ian Streeter, Nathan S. Lawrence, Shelley J. Wilkins, Li Jiang, Timothy G. J. Jones, Richard G. Compton

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Agglomerates of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can be formed in which the binder in the agglomerate is itself a redox active mol. solid. Two sep. agglomerates were formed by dissolving 9,10-phenanthraquinone (PAQ) or 1,2-naphthaquinone (NQ) in acetone together with MWCNTs and adding an excess of aq. soln. to cause pptn. of agglomerates, ~10 µm in dimension, which consist of bundles of nanotubes running into and throughout the amorphous mol. solid that binds the agglomerate together. The nature of this structure, when immobilized on a substrate electrode and in contact with aq. electrolyte solns. gives rise to many three-phase boundaries, electrolyte|agglomerate|conductor, which is advantageous to the solid state anal. electrochem. of such a material as it imparts a larger electroactive surface area than other modified carbon electrodes. The two agglomerates each gave a voltammetrically measurable response to changes in pH; when abrasively immobilized on a basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode a plot of peak potential against pH produced a linear response for both MWCNT-PAQ and MWCNT-NQ agglomerates over the pH range pH 1-12 and over the temp. range 20-70 C. [on SciFinder(R)]
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)669-677
Number of pages9
JournalChemPhysChem
Volume5
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2004

Keywords

  • pH electrode abrasively immobilized multiwalled carbon nanotube agglomerate

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